Proceedings
by Loise
Summary: Quatre Winner stands charged as a murderer... [Character Death]


_Proceedings_

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_Newspaper heading for the 29th of April 207 of the Sphere Herald

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CEO Arrested For Murder

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Heero drops beside Duo where he is staring aimlessly at the wall on the ground. He's been there for three hours.

"I heard that the family was pressing charges," he pauses, waiting to see if his friend has moved. "Quatre, is he…" Heero waits as Duo turns.

"Is pretty bloody pissed. They don't seem to see… that their son was a madman!" Fists form. "He - "

"I know." Heero whispers. "We all do. I've spoken to Trowa and Wufei. They'll be here for the trial. No one's going to turn away from Quatre."

"Yeah, except the fucking ass's in power. They know that Quatre," Duo's lips curl, in anger in disgust, Heero doesn't know, "That Quatre is better than all of them combined!"

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_Newspaper heading for the 2nd of September 207 of the World Harbinger

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Trial Of The Decade Begins

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Relena stared at Quatre before gesturing to Pagan for another drink. She believed that they both needed it.

He raised his head as she handed in a whiskey. He gulped it in one go, his red rimmed eyes never leaving her own.

"I don't think my father would be proud of me." He says, his voice sounding much younger than his years. Relena is reminded of when they first met. She can't stand looking at him now.

It hurts to talk to him, to see him reduced to this. "Quatre…" She says, trying to find the courage to reassure him.

"Oh Relena," he grasps at her hand, and then slides off his seat and places his head into her lap. Relena almost jumps away, before placing an unsteady hand on his sweaty hair.

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_Newspaper heading for the 21st of December 208 of the L1 Gleam

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Winner Trial Drags On

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Duo is grasping a baseball bat when Quatre enters the room. He swings it at Quatre's head, the end of the bat connects Quatre's scalp even as he dodges.

"Jesus! What the fuck is wrong with you Duo!" Quatre slumps to the ground, placing a hand on his head, "I'm bleeding, I'm fucking bleeding. Well isn't this just fucking great!"

The bat rolls out of Duo's hand as he stares dumbly at the red spreading across Quatre's head. "I'm sorry. I just…" He stops. "I was knocking the mistletoe away."

Quatre looks up, "I see." He still sounds angry. "If that's your kiss, you can keep it Duo."

He stares and then unleashes what he has been thinking for months. "I can't stand this bullshit. The lies, the judge! That bastard, he keeps on letting people in the witness box who just sob how great Michael was as a child, how charming he was…"

There is silence before Duo continues again. "They didn't see the corpses, they didn't see the eight year with no legs try and find her favourite pair of shoes. They didn't see the pregnant woman with the gut exploded. They didn't see the men and women he killed!"

"Michael Stannings is dead. There is some justice." Quatre says, still rubbing his head.

With a bitter laugh, Duo shakes his head, "Not if you fall Quatre, not if you fall."

"The trial - "

"Is a sham. I don't want to know that you're rotting away and I'm alone again. I don't want that. I - "

"It's Christmas in four days, I want you…" Duo swallows, "I want to spend it with you. The mistletoe was for you, Quatre, I didn't want to kiss anyone else. Will you…?"

Quatre turns away from Duo.

There is silence and they both know the answer.

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_Newspaper heading for the 25th of August 210 of the Colony Echo Enterprise

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Former Heir Found Guilty

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Duo watches the shell shocked Quatre stumbled into the hands on the guards and out of the court room. He doesn't even feel the tears fall from his eyes, until a sombre Relena offers him a tissue.

Her face is a grim mask. She is staring at Quatre as well, and anger lights up her face. "I will get him out. Quatre does not deserve this," she says, her lips barely moving.

He shakes his head and flings the tissue to the ground. Walking away, like Quatre can't, he faces the fury of dozens of photographers. They blind him and Duo knows he is only moments away from snapping.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Duo. I love Quatre, I do, but I know that you - "

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_Newspaper heading for the 16th of October 210 of the Inquisitor

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Surprise Life Sentence for Winner!

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The glass window made it difficult to realize that all that had happened was true and that this madness was reality.

Quatre himself seemed disconnected from it all, as if he was hiding from reality to keep himself sane. Duo was on the edge.

Every noise was made a thousand times worse. Even gesture was captured. The shine of his hair even in prison and the brilliance of his expressive eyes. It was breaking him even as Duo basked.

"I will, I won't let them get away with this Quatre. You'll be free. You will. I need you, Quatre, I won't let you rot away. Relena is going to help, she promised."

In the reflection of the glass, Quatre smiled, like it was the last time he would. "Thank you, Duo. I'll always remember you."

As Quatre left, Duo whispers, "I love you…" It's heard by no one.

With his shoulders straight, his posture erect, Quatre doesn't turn around even as Duo stares desperately after him.

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_Newspaper heading for the 5th of December 212 of The Bengal Sun

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Quatre Winner Dead In Cell

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It's hard to be with someone who considers themselves dead. Duo managed. Even when friends tried to pull him away from the still living corpse that was Quatre Winner.

Relena had understood the most. Duo hadn't worked much since Quatre had been arrested and she had helped him with bills and rent. Every month she would make a grand visit, more often than not surrounded by press, to the still Quatre. No one had been able to break the shell that the World had begun to build and Quatre had finished.

It had been devastating to watch, the brokenness that had described Quatre at the end of his days.

In the end, some prisoner had beaten the former Winner Heir to death. No knew the exact reasoning behind it as the prisoner killed himself afterwards.

Duo couldn't attend the funeral, through he had been told that it had been beautiful despite the events that had surrounded Quatre in the years leading up to his death.

He never forgave Quatre for leaving him.

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_Obituary for Duo Maxwell found on the 13th of March 217 in the Seattle Beacon

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2+4 Death do us part (180 - 217)

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Relena let the pen drop from her hand. In the past several years since Quatre's death, Duo had vanished and reappeared sporadically.

They had all see that without Quatre there wasn't a life worth living in Duo's eyes and they had all realized that it would just cause angst to say anything.

She had been the last to give up, or see it.

That love, Duo's love was a broken love. He had loved Quatre and Quatre had been unable to love Duo in the end.

Crying for them, for these two tragic figures, solved nothing. She did so anyway.

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End file.
